Hair treatment cap for selectively treating locks of hair



Feb. 21, 1967 e. w. ANDERSON HAIR TREATMENT CAP FOR SELECTIVELY TREATING LOCKS OF HAIR Filed March 12, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Gearye W Andaman BY I Mm mz/h 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VE N TOR Gearye MK 4%?5'070 Feb. 21, 1967 e. w. ANDERSON HAIR TREATMENT CAP FOR SELECTIVELY TREATING LOCKS OF HAIR Filed March 12, 1964 Feb. 21,' 1967 G. w. ANDERSON 3,304,945

HAIR TREATMENT CAP FOR SELECTIVELY TREATING LOCKS OF HAIR Filed March 12, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 George /V. flnderzsan ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,304,945 HAIR TREATMENT CAP FOR SELECTIVELY TREATING LOCKS OF HAIR George W. Anderson, 1020 N. Quincy St., Arlington, Va. 22201 Filed Mar. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 351,419 1 Claim. (Cl. 132-9) This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 278,970 filed May 8, .1963, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to the art of treating hair growing upon a persons head to produce interesting and decorative effects therein. More particularly, this invention is directed to an apparatus for treating portions of a persons hair in a predetermined pattern and/ or manner while other portions of the hair remain untreated or, if desired, may be subjected to another treatment in a different pattern and/ or manner.

Changing the color of the hair, as by bleaching or dyeing or combined bleaching and dyeing, is a beauty treatment which has been practiced by one means or another and with varying degrees of success since ancient times. Such procedures are conventionally applied .to the entire head of hair in order to produce a substantially uniform coloration thereof.

More recently, it has become fashionable to treat only preselected portions of the hair so as to produce a certain decorative effects based upon a pattern of contrasting colors or highlights.

These treatments include what are designated in the beauty trade as frosting, tipping, and streaking. Presently, the most popular is frosting, in which small sections of the hair are treated so as to have a lighter color than the remainder of the hair. The sections are usually, but not necessarily, uniform over the scalp.

In tipping, strands of hair at the front of the head are selectively given a lighter, contrasting color. A similar treatment of from two to six strands at the hairline is referred to as streaking. Another style, known as sun tips involves the lightening of patches which are approximately one-eighth inch wide by two and one-half inches long.

These treatments require the services of specially trained operators in order to secure the desired results effectively and safely. The work is necessarily tedious and timeconsuming since it must be performed essentially by hand, running as high as nine or ten hours for a trained beautician. Because of this combination of time and services of skilled operators, such treatments consequently are quite expensive and thus unavailable to many women in spite of the great demand therefor.

In order to avoid these problems various expedients have been suggested, most of which, however, have not proven feasible. Recently, however, a method of frosting has been developed in which the patrons hair is first completely covered by means of a cap having a number of small openings spaced over the entire surface thereof on approximately one-quarter to one-half inch centers. After thus covering the hair, the desired number of strands are drawn through each of the apertures by a crochet hook or a similar tool, with the remainder of the hair still covered by the cap. A bleach paste i then applied to the exposed hairs and permitted to remain in contact therewith for the time required to effect the desired color change in the thus-treated portion of the customers hair.

This procedure, however, is not entirely satisfactory. In order to minimize leakage of the bleaching agent through the cap with consequent uncontrolled and unwanted color changes in the hair within the' same, it is essential that each of'the openings be kept as small as Patented Feb. 21, 1967 possible. This, of course, increases the ditficulty of drawing strands of the hair through the openings as well as increasing the number of such openings for the desired effect. With such a large number of extremely small openings, it takes the average hairdresser from thirty to sixty minutes topull the hairs through these tiny holes with a hooked tool and the operation is rather uncomfortable to the customer. Furthermore, as a practical matter, this operation is limited to frosting and is not adapted to tipping, streaking and sun-tipping.

It is an object of this invention to overcome the defects of conventional hair treating procedures.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a system which permits the treatment of selected portions of a persons hair safely and effectively.

It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus whereby hair treating operations may be readily performed by operators with a minimum of skill and experience.

A further object of this invention is a protective head covering which serves to hold securely those portions of the hair which are to be treated and which positively prevents leakage of treating fluid to the other portions of the hair. These and other objects of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows, in perspective, the novel cap embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view of the cap of FIG- URE 1, showing in greater detail a suitable clamp member;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view of the latching portion of a clamping member, substantially magnified;

FIGURES 5 and 7 show alternate forms of cap with clamping members according to the invention;

FIGURES 6 and 8 to 10 show details of these alternate forms of clamping members.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURE 1, it will be seen that the cap 11 is substantially helmet-shaped, being designed to fit the head of the wearer 12 fairly closely over the entire scalp, and is provided with a chin strap 13, to hold the cap in place. Cap 11 is made of a flexible impervious material having suitable resistance to heat and chemicals used in treating hair, preferably of a suitable synthetic plastic and the chin strap 13 may be of the same material, although an elastic substance is preferred.

The cap 11 is further provided with a plurality of clamping means 14, which may substantially completely cover the cap or be arranged in any desired pattern. Each clamp, as described more fully below, is located immediately adjacent an opening 15 in the cap. For convenience and to avoid undue complication, only a 1 few such clamps are depicted on cap 11 in FIGURE 1.

It will be understood, however, that in actual practice the number and arrangement of the clamps 14 on any given cap will be determined by the particular decorative effect for which it will be used. Thus, for example, for frosting in which the treated sections are uniformly dispersed over the entire scalp, the cap for such treatment would have the clamps 14 and their associated openings 15 uniformly arranged thereover. In tipping, on the other hand, the clamps and their associated openings would be only at the front of the cap corresponding to the portion of the hair to be treated.

Turning to FIGURES 3 and 4, it will be seen that clamp 14 consists essentially of a fixed element 17 which is firmly afi'ixed to the body 22 of cap 11 and forms the upper side of the narrow, elongated opening 15. Element 17 may be attached to the cap 11 by an adhesive.

Preferably, however, it is formed of or coated with the same material as the cap, or one compatible therewith and fused or welded thereto by controlled application of heat, preferably electronically.

In either construction, element 17 is substantially rigid, formed of metal, plastic or like substance, with a covering of impervious and resilient material. Pivotally mounted at one end of fixed element 17 is a movable element 18 which forms the opposing jaw of the clamp. This other jaw 18 is likewise formed of a suitably rigid material and with an impervious resilient covering. Preferably, the jaws are joined by a double pivot 19, provided at each end with pins 19', 19' for pivotal attachment of the clamp jaws 17 and 18, as shown so that when the two elements 17 and 18 are brought into engagement, the clamping pressure will be relatively uniform along the contacting edges. Other pivot means, of course, may be provided since the exact details thereof form no part of the present invention.

It is most desirable, however, that the movable jaw element 18 be adapted to swing downwardly from fixed jaw element 17 located at and forming the upper edge of the slit 15. This construction provides means whereby the lock of hair 16 is firmly clamped in position with a substantially fluid-tight seal whereby there is little or no likelihood that treating solution will seep downwardly through the clamp into contact with hair beneath the opening 15.

The elements 17 and 18 are brought into and held in clamping engagement by means of the locking means 20 which is pivotally mounted at the free end of bar 18. At the upper end of locking means 20, there is provided a latch 21 having a cam-shaped sector 21' which, upon rotation of latch 21 into locking position as shown, applies sufficient pressure to elements 17 and 18 as to bring them into positive engagement along their free edges. This action serves to hold the lock of hair previously drawn through the slit-like opening 15 firmly in a fluidtight manner thereby preventing seepage of the treating agent under the cap, which would cause unwanted discoloration of portions of the hair and discomfort to the patron.

FIGURES and 7 show other forms of clamps which may be substituted for the clamps 14 in a cap embodying this invention. In these figures parts corresponding to those shown in FIGURES 1 to 4 are represented by like numbers.

Thus, in FIGURE 5, which illustrates a smaller and preferred embodiment of the invention, 11 designates the cap, the body of which is designated by the numeral 22. This clamp consists essentially of two jaw elements 33 and 33 forming the two edges of opening 15 and a bifurcate spring clip 38.

Elements 33 and 33' are formed of a flexible resilient material, such as a plastic or the like, which is substantially inert to the various hair treating agents, and which will not be softened or unduly affected by the temperatures it is exposed to in use. This part of the clamp may be composed of the same material as the body of the cap, or it may be another material which is compatible therewith. In any case, the clamp is made a part of the cap in any suitable manner as by cementing or controlled heating to fuse or weld the two together or in the molded caps, the clamp bodies may be formed simultaneously in the molding of the cap by suitable changes in the molds.

The opening 15 may be preformed in the several parts in which event they must be aligned before and during the fabrication. Preferably, the openings will be made after the cap has been assembled or molded as the case may be. This may readily be effected by a knife or other tool which is inserted into and through the clamp body and the underlying cap.

A groove 34, shown in detail in FIGURE 6, is formed on the outside edge of the jaws 33, 33' to accommodate spring clip 38. Extending away from opening 15, is a tongue-shaped element 35, on either side of which is an extension of groove 34. As shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, tongue 35 and grooves 34 provide a means for retaining spring clip 38 when the same is not in use. To prevent inadvertent separation of spring clip 38 from tongue 35, the latter may he provided with an enlargement or knob 36 at its extreme end, of sufficient size to serve as a detent to the clip, as shown more fully in FIGURE 10, which represents a cross-section of the clamp structure along the line 1010 of FIGURE 5. This clip 38 may be formed with an enlarged portion 39, which is offset as shown inFIGURES 5 and 6, thus providing means for readily grasping the clip and moving it into and out of engagement with elements 33, 33'.

A somewhat simplified form of the preferred clamp arrangement is illustrated in FIGURE 7. In this embodiment, tongue 35 is omitted, but the construction and function of the clamp is otherwise the same, 15 being the opening and 33, 33' being the jaw elements of the clamp which are forced tightly into engagement by the pressure exerted by spring clip 38 when the limbs of the clip are inserted into the grooves 34.

The operation of this preferred form of clamp is illustrated in FIGURES 8 and 9, the former representing a cross-section of the clamp along the line 8-8 of FIG- URE 5. In FIGURE 8, a lock of hair 16 has been drawn through opening 15, but spring clip 38 has not been placed thereon. In FIGURE 9, the limbs of clip 38 are in the groove 34, thereby applying sufiicient pressure to 33, 33' to clamp the lock of hair 16 in fluid-tight engagement, thus protecting the scalp and hair under the cap.

It will be noted that the openings 15 in this improved cap are in the form of slits, the edges of which are defined by jaw elements. These slits may be larger than the openings in other caps for similar purposes such, for example, as those shown in Patents Nos. 1,853,114 and 2,957,480, in the order of from one-half to one inch in length. However, for some effects, as for example sunbursting, the slit may be as much as two and one-half inches in length. The larger opening thus provided permits the operator to draw the desired lock of hair therethrough readily and quickly without the use of a crochet hook or like implement. In most instances the handle of a conventional rattail comb will suffice for the purpose, although a relatively coarse hook may be used, if desired.

With these greater lengths thus available, the width of the opening, while not critical, preferably is as small as practicable.

Consequently, there is a very substantial reduction in the time required for the preliminary preparation of the customers hair for the desired treatment and the work can be performed satisfactorily by operators of relatively limited skill and experience.

The following description sets forth a preferred procedure for using our new and improved cap:

(1) Select cap with pattern of openings for the desired effect;

(2) Comb hair in a pattern approximating the selected decorative design;

(3) Place cap on head of patron;

(4) Scoop out lock of hair through an opening in cap by rattail comb or similar implement;

(5) Close and fasten clamp to seal opening and hold lock in place;

(6) Comb lock smooth;

(7) Repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 for each opening in cap;

(8) Treat the several locks of hair with bleach preparation following established procedures;

(9) Unfasten clamps and remove cap;

(10) Apply desired final treatment to the patrons hair.

The cap may be formed of a plurality of sections or panels 31, 32 and 32, as shown, or it may be a one piece construction, if desired. It may be made of plastic, rubber, coated fabric or any other material which is flexible and impervious to the treating solutions and of sufiicient strength for the purpose. In general, a clear or transparent plastic is preferred.

In carrying out a hair treatment in accordance with this invention, an outer cap may be used, if desired. However in such case, the outer cap is preferably provided with sufficient openings for adequate ventilation of the patrons head during the treatment of the hair.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates only to preferred embodiments of the invention and that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A protective covering for the scalp during hair treatments which comprises a cap adapted to completely cover the scalp of the wearer, said cap being formed of a flexible material which is impervious to materials used in said hair treatment, and having a plurality of slits therein for a lock of hair in said cap, clamping means integral with said cap at each of said slits for engaging a lock of hair and substantially sealing said slit against passage of fluid therethrough, said clamping means comprising two parallel jaws projecting outwardly of said cap and forming the opposing edges of said slit, each of said jaws having a longitudinally extending groove provided at the outer side thereof, a bifurcated spring clip secured to each of said clamping means, each spring clip having a pair of generally parallel limbs slidably mounted in said grooves on the respective jaws from a clamping position in which the respective slit is closed to an open position in which the slit is open, and stop means comprising an enlargement at one end of said jaws, the spring clip in the open position thereof abutting said stop means so that further movement thereof away from the open position is prevented to thereby prevent inadvertent disassociation of the spring clip from the respective clamping means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,125,622 8/1938 Bleuel et a1 132-36.1 2,618,274 11/1952 Nell 132-9 2,714,891 8/1955 Leyer 132-9 2,818,074 12/1957 Mach 1329 2,957,480 10/1960 Widoif et al. 132-7 FOREIGN PATENTS 507,232 1939 Great Britain.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner. R. L. FRINKS, Assistant Examiner. 

